Vasil Levski

Vasil Levski (18 July 1837-18 February 1873) was a Bulgarian revolutionary and the leader of the Internal Revolutionary Organization during the late 19th century.

Biography
Vasil Ivanov Kunchev was born in Karliova, Ottoman Bulgaria (present-day Karlovo, Bulgaria) on 18 July 1837, and he left his middle-class family to become an Orthodox monk before joining Bulgarian revolutionary groups in Serbia. He was nicknamed "Levski", meaning "lionlike", and he went on to found the Internal Revolutionary Organization (IRO), establishing a wide network of insurrectionary committees across Bulgaria. Levski campaigned for a "pure and sacred" Bulgarian republic of ethnic and religious equality, motivated by the liberal ideals of the French Revolution. On 27 December 1872, he was captured by the Ottomans at Kakrina, and he was hanged for treason on 18 February 1873. He became a national hero following his martyrdom.